Richard Lewontin
| Richard Lewontin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Charles Lewontin 29 March 1929 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Residence | Brattleboro, Vermont |
| Citizenship | USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields |
Genetics Evolutionary biology Population genetics |
| Institutions |
Harvard University North Carolina State University University of Rochester University of Chicago Columbia University |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Thesis | The Effects of Population Density and Composition on Viability in Drosophila melanogaster (1955) |
| Doctoral advisor | Theodosius Dobzhansky |
| Doctoral students |
Joseph Felsenstein Jerry Coyne Martin Kreitman |
| Known for |
Evolutionary biology Population genetics |
| Notable awards | Sewall Wright Award (1994), Crafoord Prize (2015) |
Richard Charles "Dick" Lewontin (born March 29, 1929) is an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, academic and social commentator. A leader in developing the mathematical basis of population genetics and evolutionary theory, he pioneered the application of techniques from molecular biology, such as gel electrophoresis, to questions of genetic variation and evolution.
In a pair of seminal 1966 papers co-authored with J.L. Hubby in the journal Genetics, Lewontin helped set the stage for the modern field of molecular evolution. In 1979 he and Stephen Jay Gould introduced the term "spandrel" into evolutionary theory. From 1973 to 1998, he held an endowed chair in zoology and biology at Harvard University, and since 2003 has been a research professor there.
Lewontin opposes genetic determinism.
Lewontin was born in New York City to parents descended from late 19th-century Eastern European Jewish immigrants. He attended Forest Hills High School and the École Libre des Hautes Études in New York. In 1951 he graduated from Harvard College (BS, biology). In 1952, Lewontin received a master's degree in mathematical statistics, followed by a doctorate in zoology in 1954, both from Columbia University, where he was a student of Theodosius Dobzhansky.
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